UCLA football: ASU still undecided on starting QB

Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson has not decided on a starting quarterback for Saturday's game against UCLA and joked that he might wait until Saturday morning to make a decision.

The list of candidates was at three when the week started but has since been whittled to two: Danny Sullivan and Samson Szakacsy.

True freshman Brock Osweiler, who started last week's game against Oregon, will start the game on the sideline.

Sullivan has been the Sun Devils' starter through most of the season but a biceps injury kept him out of last week's game.

"I don't think he's totally healthy," Erickson told the Arizona Republic on Wednesday. "That's part of the decision. He's throwing it OK but not like he can. It's still bothering him."

Erickson's plan this week was to have Szakacsy get most of the reps with the number one offense.

"We've never seen him take that first group so we're going to let him take that first group quite a bit in the next two days and see where he's at," Erickson said Monday on a conference call.

Szakacsy played the entire second half of last week's 44-21 loss to Oregon, after Osweiler injured his shoulder. My guess would be that the Sun Devils go with Szakacsy.

"He's practiced very well," Erickson said Wednesday of Szakacsy. "He's smart and understands what's going on. He gets the ball out quick."

UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel and his coaching staff spent more time focusing on the Sun Devils' collective offense, rather than who is going to start at quarterback.

"They've played three different guys and their offense hasn't changed," Neuheisel said. "That kid that came out late (Szakacsy), he offers them a different spark with respect to his legs. He's made a lot of plays getting out of trouble. You have to be much more contain-conscious when he's in the game."

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